The Maze of Games
by Epicsonicfan
Summary: Maddie and Paige have just had the adventure of a lifetime in Mobius. Just when everyone thinks the battle's over, chaos arises again. When Paige is sent to a new demension called the Maze of Games, she struggles to survive while Maddie and the whole Sonic crew discover the facts about the maze...as well as the horrifying truth that lies hidden within them all. (Read RtM first!)
1. Prologue

**Hey everyone! I've returned! (Finally...) I know that was a really long break in between the two books. I just needed a break, y'know? Being on a schedule can be quite pressuring. Before we start the book, I have a few things to say. PLEASE don't skip this! It's important!**

**For any of you new readers, I _strongly _advise that you go and read the first book in this series called Return to Mobius before you attempt to read this book. Then come back when you're ready!**

**For Return to Mobius, the _entire_ book had been prewritten beforehand. Owlwyng (my co-writer) convinced me to post it after the whole book had already been written. All I had to do was edit and then edit a second time before posting the story on this site. However, with this book, I'm posting as I write it. This concept is new and scary to me. A lot of times, I write a chapter, then I'll edit a detail that was in a previous chapter to match something in a future chapter. It makes it hard to write this book while posting it. (That makes sense, right...?)**

**So, for that reason, the posting schedule for this book will be _much_ slower than before. I'm thinking one chapter a week, maybe two if I have time. It won't be a set schedule, (Ex. Every Thursday at 6pm EST) just whatever day I finish a chapter. If you really want to keep track of the book, to ahead and follow this story! It'll make it easier to know when I'm posting.**

**Okay. I think that's all I have to say for now! :D thank you guys so much for all you do for me! I hope this book is as good as the last one, if not better! Without further ado, enjoy The Maze of Games! (Keep in mind the prologue is super short)**

**-Epicsonicfan :D**

_We're back,everyone! Woohoo! I've missed you all. Enjoy!_

_- Owlwyng :3_

-Prologue-

"Maddie?" someone called through the trees. I turned toward the noise, wanting someone to find me, yet willing to run away all the same.

"Maddie!" the voice came again. "I know you're here somewhere!"

"I'm here, Tails." I answered, stepping out from behind my hiding place, which happened to be a tree with a gigantic trunk. He blinked and took a step back. I wasn't suprised. I probably looked like a wreck.

"Look, I'm real sorry for what happened to Paige..." Tails trailed off. I took a deep breath and answered with, "It's okay."

Paige was my best friend. She's dead now, thanks to Eggman's robot. Less than an hour ago, she perished by being crushed underneath the robot. It was weird; she survived being shot by Dark Sonic only to be killed by something like that...

I wiped the tears from my cheeks and attempted to brush my hair with my fingers. After Paige had been presumed dead, I had sprinted away as fast as I could, not caring how wild I looked. How do you handle the fact that your best friend just died?

Tails stepped closer to me. He opened his palm to reveal the white chaos emerald. It looked like its power had been completely restored since Sonic had been freed from the collar, which was a good sign. I took the gem but said nothing.

"I know you're probably grieving"-he looked at me strangely again-"and that you wanna be left alone, but we have some news."

"I don't really care at this point."

"Maddie, we don't think Paige died."

I spun on my heels and got right in Tails's face. "You saw what happened!" I screamed, releasing all the rage I had as the tears began flowing down my face again. "She is_DEAD_!" Tails backed away from me quickly, hanging his head. I instantly regretted yelling at him. I could see the sadness in his eyes, his stance, his pained expression. He felt just as depressed as I did.

We stood staring at each other for a moment. A crack of thunder boomed overhead, as the dark clouds from our battle with Eggman's robot finally reached us.

"I know," he whispered, "but we never found her body."

"That's impossible!"

"Unless she's alive."

I recoiled, stewing over this new information. Tails gazed at me with a look of hope. "Follow me," he whispered.

I tore off through the dense brush without looking back.

**I'll be posting at least one more chapter tonight. Love you guys! 3**

**-Epicsonicfan :D**

_We're back! Woo! I hope you all enjoyed this. Love you all!_

_Bai!_

_- Owlwyng :3_


	2. Confusion & Chaos

**Here we go! Thanks for joining me on book 2 ;) I'm super excited to see where this goes. The chapters will be alternating between Maddie back in Mobius and Paige in the Maze of Games. Enjoy!**

**- Epicsonicfan :D**

-Confusion & Chaos-

The world around Paige was completely dark. She was stunned with anger and betrayal from Shadow. He had tossed her through some sort of portal only seconds before and she had just hit the cold ground. Everything was dark, still, and quiet.

Paige Sparks had always been a brave sort of person, but she was the type who was courageous when with a group of people. On her own, she was terrified.

She suddenly felt a burst of fear. Where was she? And how would she get back? Could she even get back? Paige shifted to a sitting position. Her head hurt terribly. Her wrist throbbed too. She must have hit it during the fall.

Paige felt around a little bit on the ground with her hands. She found her hoverboard and made sure it was still working. It was, thankfully. Relieved, she stood up.

She could make out the stars above her, and could feel grass and dirt underneath her feet. She was definitely outside. The question was, where? She looked around again. A few trees, some boulders, a couple shrubs. Nothing unusual.

Paige's heart lurched. The stabbing realization that she was truly alone hit her like a ton of bricks. She needed to find people, and fast.

Suddenly, she remembered the message Shadow had put on her wrist com. With shaking hands, she rushed to press the right buttons. After a moment of intense button tapping, Shadow's harsh voice filled her ears.

"Welcome to the Maze of Games," Shadow said gruffly, "a place where all of the Sonic games are stored. Once you're in, there's only one way out. That's the 'end of the maze' I guess you could say." Paige's eyes widened. She was stuck...inside the Sonic games? What the...?

"I don't know which game you'll end up in first," Shadow continued through the speaker. "It's been a long time since any of us have been thrown in there."

"The way this whole thing works is pretty simple. You have to make it through a certain amount of games before you return to Mobius. In each game, there's something you have to do to make it out. But be careful. Don't let anyone from one game mix with someone from another, or you'll be in a world of trouble."

Paige paused the recording to soak this all in, then continued. "In each game, you must do something to open the portal to the next game. You have to figure out for yourself what that is. I'm sure you know these games extremely well so it won't be much of a problem. Also, something happened with you and Maddie at that battle. Knuckles thinks you've switched powers. So now you are the Chosen One. Be careful, Paige. And good luck."

She sighed and felt her heart lurch again. She thought the recording was over, but Shadow's sharp voice came once more. "By the way, I have no regrets. Have fun." Then the recording clicked off and Paige was left alone with the sounds of night.

Betrayal hit her hard once more. She was so confused and alone and terrified. Paige replayed the message twice just to try and understand it better.

As she brushed herself off, she realized with a start that her clothes had changed. At least, she thought they had. Since when had her fashion choices ever included sleek, grippy, white and blue shoes, light blue tights, and a black skirt that ruffled and came down to her knees? She was also wearing a blue, long sleeve shirt and a white, unzipped jacket with black buttons over it, black sunglasses, and what she assumed to be a headband in her hair, although she didn't know what color it was.

The fact that Paige was wearing pretty much the exact opposite of the clothes she was originally wearing was a little bit unnerving. She didn't like wearing skirts, and the jacket just looked hideous to her. The only thing she liked were the shoes, which actually looked pretty cool.

She decided to forget the nightmare and move on.

She squinted to see through the darkness. In the distance, she could barely make out some twinkling lights. They must be city lights, she thought. Paige gingerly hopped on her hoverboard and headed that way as fast as she could go without even really thinking about it.

Paige noticed immediately the difference between when she rode before and when she rode now. Before, it was a challenge to get a good grip on the board, despite the supposedly-grippy shoes Tails had given her. These new shoes she was wearing seemed to be made perfectly to fit the grooves in her board and keep her from sliding off.

As she rode closer, thoughts swirled in her mind. She had contemplated the Maze of Games long and hard and had figured out one thing. She was already in a game. Her first order of business was to find out which game she was in. That shouldn't be too hard, she thought.

Suddenly, she was enveloped in the hustle and bustle of the city. She immediately noted that it was a high tech city, with flying cars, hoverboards, and such. That eliminated a lot of games like Secret of the Rings, The Black Knight, Sonic 06, Sonic Unleashed, and a few others that racked in her mind.

Paige fit right in with the crowd with her hoverboard. Tall buildings and large groups of people surrounded her on every side. She became a little flustered and claustrophobic with all the people around her.

As she steered herself into traffic, she was amazed to find that the roads were basically giant clear tubes that appeared the run all over the city. That's when she realized she was definitely in a Sonic Riders game. She thought about figuring exactly which one, but then she realized that the goal for any Sonic Riders game was the same-win the race.

_That has to be the way out of the game_, Paige thought, excited. _All I have to do is win the race and I'm good!_ She wondered how many games she had to go through before she escaped. Shadow never specified about that. Maybe this would be harder than she thought.

As she cruised with her surrounding traffic, she noticed some commotion up ahead. She sped around the other people on the road to try and get a better view.

A little bit farther down the way, she spotted someone she thought looked vaguely familiar. As she continued staring, she recognized the face. It was Wave the Swallow, part of Jet's gang. She was riding smoothly on her Extreme Gear, although she seemed to be sneaking glances behind her every few seconds.

Paige turned and looked behind her to find that Storm the Albatross was riding on his own Extreme Gear a few yards back. She was sandwiched in between them. If Storm was behind her, and Wave was up ahead, then where was Jet?

"Nice hoverboard!" a voice said beside her. Paige would recognize that voice anywhere. It was Jet's.

"Thanks?" she answered as she turned to face him. It was Jet alright. Sleek green feathers, stunningly intense eyes, cocky demeanor even when he was just standing or in this case, riding.

He looked Paige over and then laughed. "I haven't seen you around here before," Jet continued, smirking. He nudged his Extreme Gear into her hoverboard. The nudge had enough force to bump her into the wall. She glared.

"Probably because I wasn't here."

"What's someone as inexperienced as you doing on a fine board like that?" Wave taunted, steering her Extreme Gear on her right side, opposite of Jet. She couldn't look behind her, but she could tell that Storm had moved in close to the rear of her hoverboard.

This situation was making her nervous. Paige sped up a little bit, but all three of them matched her speed perfectly. They were some of the best riders in Mobius, after all.

"I think this is called harassing," she muttered. They all just laughed. They seemed a lot crueler than they were in the video games...

"I think this falls more in the 'stealing' category," Jet said. He winked to Wave, and then motion exploded around her. Storm ran into her from behind and she strumbled forward, falling off her board face first. As she fell, she noticed Jet pick up her board and smirk with victory. She bounced and rolled a little bit, twisting painfully.

Paige heard laughter and taunts dissipate into the distance. Moaning, she hurriedly got to her feet and leaped out of traffic before she got ran over. Her left arm throbbed, yet she was relieved that she wasn't more seriously injured.

Scowling, she muttered a few choice words and kicked the side of the tube road. Jet was exactly the jerk he was in the comics. But why her?! Why her of all people? Her board wasn't anything special...

Now she didn't have her hoverboard, which meant no transportation method, which meant she had a lot of walking in her future. Great...

"Look out!" a sudden voice cried. Paige looked up just in time to see a yellow blur crash into her. The two of them rolled quite a distance before bumping into the clear wall of the tubing.

"I'm so sorry," the stranger stuttered, fumbling to get off of her.

"It's cool," Paige replied with a grin. It wasn't like this was the worst thing that had happened today. As the person shifted off of her, she was able to see them better. In fact, that person wasn't a stranger at all.

"Tails!" she exclaimed. "It's so good to see you!" The fox stood up and stared at her.

"Huh?" he responded after helping her to her feet.

"Come on, Tails. I need your help."

"Sorry, but I've never seen you before. Are you thinking of someone else?"

"But you and I just battled the-" Paige cut her sentence short. She understood now. She was inside the game. It made sense that the characters inside of it wouldn't have met Real-World Paige...at least not yet. She may know them in Mobius, but they didn't know her inside of the video games. How do you explain this to someone?

Would it mess up the course of their planet if she explained that the world they were in was a game? Paige didn't want to take a chance, so she sputtered awkwardly, searching for words.

"How do you know who I am?" Tails asked, a sense of urgency suddenly present in his voice.

"You made a hoverboard for me a long time ago," Paige lied, "and I kinda need another one."

"Another hoverboard? Well what happened to the other one?" Tails took her hand and led her onto an offshoot of the tubing, like a little walkway just for people instead of cars.

"Jet stole mine..."

"Really? Geez, I'm real sorry about that."

"It's okay. I just need another one."

"Actually," Tails said with a glint in his eyes, "I think we should try and get your board back."

"Really?"

"Why not? I caught a glimpse of your board when I was riding behind you guys. It looked like one of my designs, but there was something special about it I don't recognize." Tails chuckled and grinned. "Besides, Jet doesn't need another board. It's rightfully yours!"

"I totally owe you. That board is pretty important, actually. How do we get it back?" Paige replied.

Tails was already pulling out gadgets out of a small backpack he had been wearing earlier that she hadn't noticed. He handed her an earpiece, which she put in her ear, a camera, and a laptop.

"You're giving me all this stuff?" Paige asked, skeptical and confused. "You barely know me!"

Tails looked at her and smiled. "I'm always up to help someone in need. You look a little lost, and it's hard to get around in this city without a car or a hoverboard. Plus, I don't think you're old enough to drive yet."

It took all of her strength to not say that he was much younger than she was and he could drive just fine.

Paige thought he was done giving her stuff, but she was wrong. He handed her a small, deep blue colored backpack, a container of water, and a bag of rings.

"But-" she protested.

"Just trust me, okay?" Tails interrupted before she could say anything else. Paige nodded finally. "I've linked the earpiece in your ear to mine. That way we can talk when we're separated. That laptop can be used for research, or honestly, for the moments when you get super bored and just need to watch a video. The camera is for if we've got to talk face to face. It doesn't have Internet connection though, so you'll have to find a spot with Flash."

Paige guessed that Flash was basically the Wifi of this game. "So where do we start?" she asked.

"I'm gonna go get a few of my friends. We've dealt with Jet before, so maybe we can get your hoverboard back easier. I'll call you when I'm ready."

"Thanks, Tails."

"No problem." With those words, he smiled at her again and jumped onto his Extreme Gear. As he started to ride away, she suddenly called out to him.

"My name's Paige, by the way!"

Tails nodded respectfully and then called back, "See ya later, Paige!" Then he was gone, disappearing back into the rushing traffic of the city. The whole situation seemed so unlikely to ever happen that she had to make sure she wasn't dreaming. The chances of anyone doing that in her hometown were like, zero. Seriously.

With a shrug, Paige wandered off to try and find a place with Flash.

**I'll be back sometime next week with another chapter xP Comment and let me know what you think. See you guys next week!**

**-Epicsonicfan :D**

_This is going to be great! See you soon!_

_Bai!_

_-Owlwyng :3_


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